John Tyler | whitehouse.gov Air Force One John Tyler John Tyler became the tenth President of the United States (1841-1845) when President William Henry Harrison died in April 1841. He was the first Vice President to succeed to the Presidency after the death of his predecessor. Dubbed "His Accidency" by his detractors, John Tyler was the first Vice President to be elevated to the office of President by the death of his predecessor. Born in Virginia in 1790, he was raised believing that the Constitution must be strictly construed. He never wavered from this conviction. He attended the College of William and Mary and studied law. Serving in the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1821, Tyler voted against most nationalist legislation and opposed the Missouri Compromise. After leaving the House he served as Governor of Virginia. As a Senator he reluctantly supported Jackson for President as a choice of evils. Tyler soon joined the states' rights Southerners in Congress who banded with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and their newly formed Whig party opposing President Jackson.

The Whigs nominated Tyler for Vice President in 1840, hoping for support from southern states'-righters who could not stomach Jacksonian Democracy. The slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" implied flag waving nationalism plus a dash of southern sectionalism. Clay, intending to keep party leadership in his own hands, minimized his nationalist views temporarily; Webster proclaimed himself "a Jeffersonian Democrat." But after the election, both men tried to dominate "Old Tippecanoe." Suddenly President Harrison was dead, and "Tyler too" was in the White House. At first the Whigs were not too disturbed, although Tyler insisted upon assuming the full powers of a duly elected President. He even delivered an Inaugural Address, but it seemed full of good Whig doctrine. Whigs, optimistic that Tyler would accept their program, soon were disillusioned. Tyler was ready to compromise on the banking question, but Clay would not budge. He would not accept Tyler's "exchequer system," and Tyler vetoed Clay's bill to establish a National Bank with branches in several states. A similar bank bill was passed by Congress. But again, on states' rights grounds, Tyler vetoed it.

In retaliation, the Whigs expelled Tyler from their party. All the Cabinet resigned but Secretary of State Webster. A year later when Tyler vetoed a tariff bill, the first impeachment resolution against a President was introduced in the House of Representatives. A committee headed by Representative John Quincy Adams reported that the President had misused the veto power, but the resolution failed. Despite their differences, President Tyler and the Whig Congress enacted much positive legislation. The "Log-Cabin" bill enabled a settler to claim 160 acres of land before it was offered publicly for sale, and later pay $1.25 an acre for it. In 1842 Tyler did sign a tariff bill protecting northern manufacturers. The Webster-Ashburton treaty ended a Canadian boundary dispute; in 1845 Texas was annexed. The administration of this states'-righter strengthened the Presidency. But it also increased sectional cleavage that led toward civil war. By the end of his term, Tyler had replaced the original Whig Cabinet with southern conservatives. In 1844 Calhoun became Secretary of State. Later these men returned to the Democratic Party, committed to the preservation of states' rights, planter interests, and the institution of slavery.

Whigs became more representative of northern business and farming interests. When the first southern states seceded in 1861, Tyler led a compromise movement; failing, he worked to create the Southern Confederacy. He died in 1862, a member of the Confederate House of Representatives. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Michael Beschloss and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2009 by the White House Historical Association. Learn more about President Tyler's first wife Letitia Christian Tyler , who died during her term. Learn more about President Tyler's second wife Julia Gardiner Tyler . John Tyler - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Google John Tyler’s Early Life and Family John Tyler was born on March 29, 1790, at his family’s plantation, Greenway, in Charles City County, Virginia . He was the son of John Tyler Sr.

(1747-1813), a prosperous planter and Virginia politician, and Mary Armistead (1761-97). The younger Tyler graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1807, then studied law under private tutors. He began his political career in 1811, when he was elected to the Virginia legislature at age 21. Did You Know? President Tyler reportedly named his Virginia plantation Sherwood Forest because he identified with the legendary character Robin Hood and saw himself as a political outlaw. The home, which the president bought in 1842, remains in the Tyler family today and is open to the public for tours. In 1813, the 23-year-old Tyler married fellow Virginian Letitia Christian (1790-1842), with whom he would have eight children. In 1839, Letitia suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed and incapable of handling the responsibilities of first lady when her husband became president two years later.

Her daughter-in-law, Priscilla Cooper Tyler (1816-89), a former actress, assumed the role of official White House hostess. In 1842, Letitia Tyler suffered a second stroke and died at age 51, becoming the first president’s wife to pass away while her husband was in the White House. In 1844, John Tyler became the first president to marry while in office when he wed Julia Gardiner (1820-89), a wealthy New Yorker 30 years his junior. The couple went on to have seven children. With a total of 15 offspring from his two marriages, Tyler fathered more children than any other U.S. president in history. Tyler Serves Virginia Tyler served in the Virginia legislature from 1811 to 1816, and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1817 to 1821.

Elected to Congress as a Democratic-Republican, the party founded in the early 1790s by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and James Madison (1751-1836), Tyler favored states’ rights and a strict adherence to the U.S. Constitution, and opposed policies granting additional power to the federal government. He returned to the Virginia legislature from 1823 to 1825, and was governor of Virginia from 1825 to 1827. (In this role, he delivered the state’s official eulogy for Jefferson, America’s third president, who died on July 4, 1826.) Tyler represented his home state in the U.S. Senate from 1827 to 1836. During this time, he grew unhappy with the policies of President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), a Democrat who was in the White House from 1829 to 1937. In 1834, the Senate censured Jackson over issues surrounding his removal of government funds from the Bank of the United States .

Two years later, in 1836, Tyler resigned from the Senate to avoid complying with the Virginia legislature’s instructions to reverse the censure vote. The ex-senator became affiliated with the Whig Party , which was established in the early 1830s in opposition to Jackson Tyler Assumes the Presidency In 1840, the Whigs selected Ohio politician William Henry Harrison to run for president and chose Tyler as their vice presidential nominee in an attempt to attract states’ rights Southerners. The Whigs positioned Harrison as a symbol of the common man and promoted his image as an Indian fighter on the American frontier, using the campaign slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” (a reference to Harrison’s military leadership against a coalition of Indian forces at the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe in Indiana ). Harrison’s Democratic opponent, President Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), who was unpopular with Americans for his mismanagement of the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1837, was painted by the Whigs as an out-of-touch, wealthy elite. In fact, he came from humble roots while Harrison and Tyler were well-educated and hailed from prominent families.

The Harrison-Tyler ticket won the White House with an electoral vote of 234-60 and approximately 53 percent of the popular vote. The 68-year-old Harrison was inaugurated on March 4, 1841. He died a month later, on April 4, from pneumonia. In the immediate aftermath of Harrison’s death, there was confusion about whether Tyler would assume the full powers and salary of the presidency as if elected to the office, or remain vice president acting as president. The U.S. Constitution was unclear on the matter of presidential succession; however, Tyler moved into the White House and was sworn into office on April 6. At 51 years old, the man dubbed “His Accidency,” was younger than any previous president. (The ambiguity surrounding the order of succession issue was officially clarified with the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1967 and states that if the president dies or resigns, the vice president becomes president.) John Tyler in the White House In his new role, Tyler soon found himself in opposition to the Whigs’ legislative agenda.

He had kept Harrison’s cabinet in place; however, all but one of them resigned after Tyler vetoed bills designed to create a new national bank. The president was disavowed by the Whigs, who in 1843 tried–but failed–to impeach him. Despite the fact that he was a man without a party, Tyler was still able to rack up a list of achievements as chief executive. In 1841, he signed the Pre-Emption Act, which spurred Western settlement by allowing a person to stake a claim on 160 acres of public land and purchase it from the government. In 1842, Tyler’s administration ended the Seminole War in Florida and settled a dispute between the U.S. and British North American colonies over boundary issues (including the Maine-Canada border) with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. In 1844, the U.S. signed the Treaty of Wanghia with China, giving America access to Asian ports. In March 1845, shortly before Tyler left office, he signed a bill annexing Texas (which officially joined the Union as the 29th state in December of that year).

On his final full day as president, Tyler signed a bill making Florida the 27th state. During the presidential election of 1844, Tyler made a brief attempt to run as a third-party candidate before dropping out due to lack of support. Democratic candidate James Polk (1795-1845) won the election and became the 11th U.S. president. Tyler’s Later Years After departing the White House, Tyler moved to his 1,200-acre plantation, Sherwood Forest, on the James River between Williamsburg and Richmond, Virginia, and raised his family with his second wife. In 1861, with America on the brink of civil war, he chaired a peace conference in Washington , D.C., in an effort to preserve the Union. The conference failed to meet its objective, and after war broke later that same year Tyler voted in favor of Virginia seceding from the United States. He was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives, but before he could take his seat, Tyler died at age 71 on January 18, 1862, in Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.

President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) and the U.S. government did not publicly acknowledge Tyler’s death, as the Virginian was seen as a traitor to the Union. Tyler was buried at Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery, which is also the resting place of James Monroe (1758-1831), America’s fifth president, and Jefferson Davis (1808-89), president of the Confederacy. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today. Tags John Tyler's Presidency and the Tyler Precedent By Robert McNamara Updated April 14, 2016. John Tyler , the first vice president to finish the term of a president who had died in office, established a pattern in 1841 that would be followed for more than a century. The Constitution was not entirely clear about what would happen if a president died. And when William Henry Harrison died in the White House on April 4, 1841, some in the government believed his vice president would only become an acting president whose decisions would need the approval of Harrison's cabinet. Tyler forcefully disagreed.

His stubborn assertion that he had rightfully inherited the full powers of the office became known as the Tyler Precedent. And it remained the blueprint for presidential succession until the Constitution was amended in 1967. Vice Presidency Considered Unimportant For the first five decades of the United States, the vice presidency was not considered a vitally important office. While the first two vice presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson , were later elected president, they both found the vice presidency to be a frustrating position. continue reading below our video 10 Facts About the Titanic That You Don't Know In the controversial election of 1800 , when Jefferson became president, Aaron Burr became vice president. Burr is the best-known vice president of the early 1800s, though he is mainly remembered for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel while vice president. Some vice presidents took the job's one defined duty, presiding over the Senate, quite seriously. Others were said to hardly care about it. Martin Van Buren’s vice president, Richard Mentor Johnson, had a very relaxed view of the job.

He owned a tavern in his home state of Kentucky, and while vice president he took a lengthy leave of absence from Washington to go home and run his tavern. The man who followed Johnson in the office, John Tyler, was the first vice president to show how important the person in the job could become. Death of a President John Tyler had started his political career as a Jeffersonian Republican, serving in the Virginia legislature and as the state’s governor. He eventually was elected to the US Senate, and when he became an opponent of Andrew Jackson’s policies he resigned his Senate seat in 1836 and switched parties, becoming a Whig . Tyler was tapped as the running mate of Whig candidate William Henry Harrison in 1840. The legendary “Log Cabin and Hard Cider” campaign was fairly free of issues, and Tyler’s name was featured in the legendary campaign slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!” Harrison was elected, and caught a cold at his inauguration while delivering a lengthy inaugural address in very bad weather. His illness developed into pneumonia, and died on April 4, 1841, a month after taking office.

Vice president John Tyler, at home in Virginia and unaware of the seriousness of the president's illness, was informed that the president had died. The Constitution Was Unclear Tyler returned to Washington, believing he was the president of the United States. But he was informed that the Constitution wasn't precisely clear about that. The relevant wording in the Constitution, in Article II, section 1 , said: “In case of removal of the President from office, or of his death, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President…” The question arose: what did the framers mean by the word “same”? Did it mean the presidency itself, or merely duties of the office? In other words, in the event of a president’s death, would the vice president become an acting president, and not actually the president? Back in Washington, Tyler found himself being referred to as “the vice president, acting as president.” Critics referred to him as “His Accidency.” Tyler, who was staying at a Washington hotel (there was no vice presidential residence until modern times), summoned Harrison’s cabinet.

The cabinet informed Tyler that he was not actually the president, and any decisions he would make in office would have to be approved by them. John Tyler Held His Ground “I beg your pardon, gentlemen,” Tyler said. “I am sure I am very glad to have in my cabinet such able statesmen as you have proved yourselves to be, and I shall be pleased to avail myself of your counsel and advice, but I can never consent to being dictated to as to what I shall or shall not do. I, as president, will be responsible for my administration. I hope to have your cooperation in carrying out its measures. So long as you see fit to do this I shall be glad to have you with me. When you think otherwise, your resignations will be accepted.” Tyler thus claimed the full powers of the presidency. And the members of his cabinet backed down from their threat. A compromise suggested by Daniel Webster , the secretary of state, was that Tyler would take the oath of office, and would then be the president. After the oath was administered, on April 6, 1841, all the officers of the government accepted that Tyler was the president and possessed the full powers of the office.

The taking of the oath thus came to be seen as the moment when a vice president becomes president. Tyler's Rough Term In Office A headstrong individual, Tyler clashed mightily with the Congress and with his own cabinet, and his single term in office was very rocky. Tyler’s cabinet changed several times. And he became estranged from the Whigs and was essentially a president without a party. His one noteworthy achievement as president would have been the annexation of Texas, but the Senate, out of spite, delayed that until the next president, James K. Polk , could take credit for it. The Tyler Precedent Was Established The presidency of John Tyler was most significant for the way it began. By establishing the “Tyler Precedent,” he ensured that future vice presidents would not become acting presidents with restricted authority. It was under the Tyler Precedent that the following vice presidents became president: Chester Alan Arthur , following the assassination of James Garfield in 1881 Theodore Roosevelt , following the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 Calvin Coolidge, following the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923 Harry Truman, following the death of Franklin D.

Roosevelt in 1945 Lyndon B. Johnson, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 Tyler’s action was essentially affirmed, 126 years later, by the 25th Amendment, which was ratified in 1967. After serving his term in office, Tyler returned to Virginia. He remained politically active, and sought to forestall the Civil War by convening a controversial peace conference. When efforts to avoid war failed, he was elected to the Confederate congress, but died in January 1862, before he could take his seat. President Harrison dies after one month in office - Apr 04, 1841 - HISTORY.com President Harrison dies after one month in office Share this: President Harrison dies after one month in office Author President Harrison dies after one month in office URL Publisher A+E Networks Only 31 days after assuming office, William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, dies of pneumonia at the White House. Born in Charles County, Virginia, in 1773, Harrison served in the U.S.

Army in the old Northwest Territory and in 1800 was made governor of the Indian Territory, where he proved an able administrator. In 1811, he led U.S. forces against an Indian confederation organized by Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, and victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe brought an end to Tecumseh’s hopes for a united Indian front against U.S. expansion. In the War of 1812, Harrison gained his greatest fame as a military commander, recapturing Detroit from the British and defeating a combined force of British and Native Americans at the Battle of the Thames. In 1816, he was elected to the House of Representatives and in 1825 to the Senate. Gaining the Whig presidential nomination in 1840, he and his running mate, John Tyler, ran a successful campaign under the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.” At the inauguration of America’s first Whig president, on March 4, 1841, a bitterly cold day, Harrison declined to wear a jacket or hat, made a two-hour speech, and attended three inauguration balls. Soon afterward, he developed pneumonia.

On April 4, President Harrison died in Washington, and Vice President John Tyler ascended to the presidency, becoming the first individual in U.S. history to reach the office through the death of a president. Related Videos John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848) - Senators who became president - CBS News Face The Nation November 2, 2015, 4:50 PM Senators who became president Next The dome of the US Capitol is seen January 4, 2013 on a cold day in Washington. KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images Is the U.S. Senate a pathway to the presidency? Sixteen presidents were once senators and three moved directly from the U.S Senate to the White House. As the 2016 election unfolds, there is no shortage of current or former senators who are hoping to capture the presidency. In the Democratic field, former Senator Hillary Clinton and current Senator Bernie Sanders are leading the race. On the Republican side, a handful of the candidates in the running are serving or once served in the Senate, including Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum.

Here's a look at the presidents who once served in the senate, along with two senators who nearly won the presidency - but not quite. James Monroe (1758 – 1831) James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States (1817-1825) and the last founding father to be president. He served as a Senator from Virginia from 1790 to 1794. John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848) John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States(1825 - 1829). He was the son of John Adams, the second U.S. president. He served as a senator from Massachusetts from 1803 until 1808 when he broke with the Federalists and resigned his Senate seat. Andrew Jackson (1767 – 1845) Andrew Jackson was a representative and a senator from Tennessee and the seventh President of the United States (1829-1837). Unlike the first six Presidents who were from wealthy, educated backgrounds in the east, Jackson was born into a Scotch-Irish immigrant family.

He was orphaned at the age of 14 and then raised by his uncles. Jackson was first nominated for president in 1824 and narrowly lost to John Quincy Adams. He was the first man elected from Tennessee to the House of Representatives and served briefly in the Senate from 1797 to 1798 and then from 1823 to 1825. Martin Van Buren (1782 – 1862) After serving as the eighth vice president under President Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth President of the United States in 1836. Van Buren was the first president to be born after the United States declared independence. Of Dutch descent, he was the only president who spoke English as a second language. Van Buren served as a United States Senator from New York from 1821 to 1828. William Henry Harrison (1773 – 1831) William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States. He was 68 years old when inaugurated, the oldest president to be elected until Ronald Reagan took office in 1981.

On the 32nd day of his presidency, in 1831, Harrison became the first president to die in office, serving the shortest tenure of any U.S. president. Earlier in his career, William Henry Harrison was a senator from Ohio from 1825 to 1828. John Tyler (1790 – 1862) John Tyler became the tenth President of the United States when President William Henry Harrison died in April 1841. Tyler was the first vice president to take office due to the death of his predecessor. On his final full day in office, Tyler signed a bill making Florida the 27th state. Earlier in his career, Tyler served as a senator from Virginia from 1827 to 1836. Franklin Pierce (1804 – 1869) Franklin Pierce became the 14th President of the United States in 1853. Prior to that, he served as a U.S. senator representing New Hampshire from 1837 to 1842.

James Buchanan (1791 – 1868) James Buchanan was a senator from Pennsylvania from (1834 - 1845) and the 15th President of the United States (1857-1861). He took office immediately prior to the American Civil War. He was the only president who never married. Andrew Johnson (1808 – 1875) Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States. He was elected vice president on the Republican ticket with Abraham Lincoln and became President in 1865 after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Earlier in his career, he served as a U.S. senator representing Tennessee from 1857 to 1862 and then briefly in 1875 until his death. Benjamin Harrison (1833 – 1901) Benjamin Harrison followed in the footsteps of his grandfather President William Henry Harrison all the way to the White House. He was a senator representing Indiana from 1881 to 1887, and hetook office in 1889 as the 23rd President of the United States. Warren G.

Harding (1865 – 1923) Warren G. Harding was one of the three Senators (the other two were John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama) who moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House. Harding was a Senator from Ohio (1915 - 1921) before he became the 29th President of the United States in 1921. Harding died unexpectedly of a heart attack while travelling in California. Harry S. Truman (1884 – 1972) Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President of the United States after Franklin Delano Roosevelt's sudden death in 1945. He was Roosevelt's vice president for just 82 days. Earlier in his career, Truman was a senator from Missouri from 1935 to 1945. John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) John F. Kennedy was the second U.S. President who moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House.

Kennedy served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. He was the youngest man elected to office (he was 43 at the time.) Before Kennedy became President, he was a senator representing Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 – 1973) Lyndon B. Johnson was elected Vice President as John F. Kennedy's running mate. On November 22, 1963, Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States just a few hours after Kennedy's assassination. Before Johnson became vice president in 1961, he was a senator from Texas. Richard M. Nixon (1913 – 1994) Richard Nixon was elected the 37th U.S. president after serving as a U.S. Representative and Senator from California. In 1953, He moved from the U.S. Senate directly to his position as the 36th Vice President of the United States.

He won the presidency in his own right in 1968 and was reelected in 1972. In 1974, he became the only President to ever resign the office after the Watergate scandal. Barack Obama (1961 - present) U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 into law in the Oval Office the White House in Washington November 2, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst After winning the 2008 election, Barack Obama moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House and became the 44th President of the United States, the first African American to hold the office. He served as senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008. John McCain (1936 - present) Republican Presidential Candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) speaks at a Town Hall Meeting while on the campaign trail in the Toyota Arena August 12, 2008 in York, Pennsylvania. William Thomas Cain, Getty Images John McCain is the senior United States senator from Arizona.

He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 2008 presidential election and was defeated by then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. John Kerry (1943 - present) Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., delivers his concession speech in Boston's Faneuil Hall, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004. AP John Kerry is the 68th and current United States Secretary of State. He won the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 to challenge Republican incumbent President George W. Bush. Earlier in his career, he served as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Should we scrub all memorials to Woodrow Wilson? - CNN.com Should we scrub all memorials to Woodrow Wilson? By William R. Keylor Updated 8:35 PM ET, Fri November 20, 2015 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

JUST WATCHED Presidential Places: Wilson's post-presidency home 02:41 Story highlights Princeton University is considering removing President Wilson's name in light of his segregationist beliefs William Keylor: We should keep his racial views in mind and abhor them, but is that reason to wipe his name from memorials? William R. Keylor is professor of history and international relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. (CNN) On the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration in 2013 I wrote an op-ed published in the Richmond Post-Dispatch reminding its readers of the retrograde racial views of our 28th president that few Americans were aware of (except for historians of the Wilson presidency who have mentioned it in their works). Later, professor Randy Barnett of the Georgetown University Law Center quoted extensively from my article to call for the removal of Wilson's name from all public buildings in the country.

William Keylor The issue of Wilson's racial views and policies then virtually disappeared from the public discourse until students at Princeton University occupied the president's office two days ago and demanded that all references to the university's most famous faculty member and President be erased from the campus. As of this writing, the university has agreed to consider the renaming of buildings and organizations at Princeton that bear Wilson's name. My 2013 piece recalled the many examples of President Wilson's abhorrent policies concerning race relations. He acquiesced in the resegregation of federal agencies that had been integrated during Reconstruction. Thenceforth, African-American federal workers were required to use separate dining facilities and restrooms and were prohibited from working alongside their white colleagues. Woodrow Wilson When a delegation of distinguished African-American leaders met with Wilson in the White House to protest the resegregation policies of his administration, the President lost his temper and blurted out, "Segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen," and showed them the door.

In 1915 Wilson organized a private screening in the White House of the silent film "Birth of a Nation," which was based on a novel titled "The Clansman" by his friend and political backer Thomas Dixon. The film celebrated the Ku Klux Klan as a courageous defender of the Southern way of life and depicted African-Americans in a highly unfavorable light. The President later wrote the director of the film, D.W. Griffith, congratulating him on "a splendid production." Read More Despite having brought to light this oft-forgotten aspect of Woodrow Wilson's policies, which reflected his background as a product of the Old Confederacy and represent an indelible stain on his reputation, I want to issue a note of caution about the campaign to remove him from the Princeton campus and elsewhere in the country. Photos: Presidents of the United States Photos: Presidents of the United States George Washington was the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He also served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and he has the distinction of being the only President unanimously elected by the Electoral College.

Hide Caption 1 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States The second U.S. President, John Adams, served from 1797 to 1801. He was also the first vice president of the United States, and he was the first President to reside in the White House, moving in on November 1, 1800, while the White House was still under construction. Hide Caption 2 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Thomas Jefferson, the third President (1801-1809), was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. While President, Jefferson doubled the size of the United States by purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803. Hide Caption 3 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States James Madison, the fourth President (1809-1817), was nicknamed the "Father of the Constitution." During his presidency, the first formal declaration of war was enacted -- the War of 1812 with Great Britain.

Hide Caption 4 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States James Monroe (1817-1825) was the last of the Founding Fathers to be elected President. During his seventh State of the Union address, he outlined a foreign policy that warned European powers against further colonization of or meddling in the Western Hemisphere. This was later known as the Monroe Doctrine. Hide Caption 5 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) was the son of second President John Adams. He was the only President to serve in the House of Representatives after serving as President. Hide Caption 6 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) was the only President to serve in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He is also the only President to have been a former prisoner of war: Jackson was 13 when became a courier during the Revolutionary War, and he was later captured by the British.

Hide Caption 7 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) was the first President to be born a U.S. citizen. Previous Presidents were born before the United States was a country, making them colonists and, consequently, citizens of Great Britain. Hide Caption 8 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States William Henry Harrison (1841) probably had only just finished unpacking his things at the White House when he died of pneumonia one month into his term. Harrison was the first U.S. President to die while in office, and he had the shortest tenure ever of any commander-in-chief. Hide Caption 9 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States John Tyler's term (1841-1845) saw several presidential firsts. He was the first vice president to succeed office after the President died, he was the first to lose his wife while in office, and he was the first to marry while in office. Hide Caption 10 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States James K.

Polk (1845-1849) oversaw the greatest expansion of territory of any President in history. The expansion included what would become the future states of Texas and California. Polk also negotiated with Britain to establish the boundaries of the Oregon Country. Hide Caption 11 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Zachary Taylor (1849-1850), aka "Old Rough and Ready," was a hero in the Mexican-American War. Mystery surrounds his actual cause of death from a stomach ailment. Did he just eat too many cherries, or was it murder? The 1991 exhumation of his body proved it wasn't arsenic poisoning at least. Hide Caption 12 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) was the last President who was neither a Democrat or a Republican. He helped pass the Compromise of 1850, legislation that included the Fugitive Slave Act and California's admission to the Union as a free state.

Hide Caption 13 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) was the first President to not get his party's nomination for re-election. He signed the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed the people there to decide whether to allow slavery. This worsened the tension between the North and South. Hide Caption 14 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States James Buchanan (1857-1861) was the only President who never married. He failed to prevent seven pro-slavery states from seceding during his term. Hide Caption 15 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), purveyor of tall top hats and log cabins, preserved the Union during the Civil War and freed the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation. He was assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Hide Caption 16 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Andrew Johnson's (1865-1869) trial by impeachment in the U.S. Senate resulted in his acquittal by a single vote.

History gives him a terrible performance review: His plan for post-war Reconstruction failed, and he had little support from Congress or the public. Hide Caption 17 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Tasked with unifying the country after the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) established the Department of Justice to protect the rights of freed slaves. He also authorized the military to fight the Ku Klux Klan and successfully lobbied for the 15th Amendment, granting voting rights to black men. Hide Caption 18 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) promoted women's rights, signing legislation that allowed female lawyers to argue Supreme Court cases. He introduced the White House Easter Egg Roll as a spring tradition and established the first presidential library. Hide Caption 19 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Just four months into his term, James Garfield (1881) was shot by a disgruntled lawyer who'd aspired to join the administration as a diplomat.

The President was taken to the Jersey Shore, where doctors hoped the ocean air would help him recover. He died two weeks later. Hide Caption 20 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Chester Arthur (1881-1885) signed a bill mandating a merit-based system for hiring public workers. The idea was to curb patronage and politically motivated appointments. Hide Caption 21 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Grover Cleveland (1885-1889; 1893-1897) was the first and only commander-in-chief to serve two non-consecutive terms. He was also the first bachelor President to be married at the White House. Hide Caption 22 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) signed into law the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which authorized the government to fine large corporations for price fixing and other corrupt business practices.

Hide Caption 23 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States William McKinley (1897-1901) led the country through the Spanish-American War, a three-month conflict that began with the sinking of the USS Maine and ended with Cuban independence. During the beginning of McKinley's second term, he was fatally shot by an anarchist. Hide Caption 24 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States At 42, Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) was the youngest man to take the oath of office. A progressive reformer and environmental advocate, Roosevelt brought lawsuits against corporate trusts, taking on business giants to level the playing field for the working class. Hide Caption 25 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States William Howard Taft (1909-1913) also served as the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in his post-presidency years. During his re-election bid, he managed to win only eight of 531 electoral votes -- the poorest performance of an incumbent president seeking re-election.

Hide Caption 26 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for proposing and creating the League of Nations. But he was never able to convince the United States to join. Although he was first opposed to a federal amendment allowing women to vote, Wilson shifted his position during his second term and the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. Hide Caption 27 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Warren G. Harding's term (1921-1923) was cut short by his sudden death from a cerebral hemorrage. Harding captured 60% of the popular vote in 1920, marking the largest presidential landslide to date. Hide Caption 28 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) served as vice president until the death of Warren G. Harding. His 1924 campaign slogan was "Keep Cool with Coolidge," and his nickname was "Silent Cal" because of his reputation as a man of few words.

Hide Caption 29 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) was inaugurated on the year of the stock market crash that sent the country into the Great Depression. Although Hoover pushed for money to be appropriated for large-scale projects, he opposed federal relief payments directly to individuals. The national economy never recovered during his term, and the shantytowns that developed were nicknamed "Hoovervilles." Hide Caption 30 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) was the only President elected to the office four times. During his 12 years as President, he championed numerous social programs and measures, including the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Civilian Conservation Corps and Social Security. Roosevelt contracted polio at age 39 and never recovered the use of his legs. Hide Caption 31 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) served as vice president for 82 days before the unexpected death of Roosevelt.

He authorized the use of two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hide Caption 32 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) had been supreme commander of the European Allied forces during World War II, and he ordered the Normandy invasion on D-Day. His popular presidential campaign slogan was "I like Ike!" Hide Caption 33 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) was the first Roman Catholic President. He was assassinated in his first term, which was marked by the signing of the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, the creation of the Peace Corps, the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, and the beginning of military involvement in Vietnam. Hide Caption 34 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) was vice president under John F. Kennedy and took the oath of office on a plane after Kennedy was assassinated.

In 1964, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, the landmark legislation that banned segregation and discrimination based on race and gender. The law was a cornerstone of Johnson's vision of a "Great Society" that also included a "war on poverty." Hide Caption 35 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Richard Nixon (1969-1974) became the first President to resign from office as he faced impeachment for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Nixon made strides in domestic policy, proposing legislation that resulted in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Abroad, he established relations with China and a détente in Soviet relations. Hide Caption 36 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Gerald Ford (1974-1977) had been appointed vice president by Nixon after Spiro Agnew was forced to resign. He then became President when Nixon himself resigned. Remembered mainly for his pardon of Nixon and his physical clumsiness, Ford was not elected to a second term.

Hide Caption 37 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) brokered the 1978 Camp David Accords, the agreement that led to a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. At home, Carter's presidency was plagued by inflation and unemployment, and he lost his bid for a second term amid the hostage crisis in Iran. Hide Caption 38 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) was the only actor ever elected President, and his talent as a speaker earned him the moniker "the great communicator." An affable Republican who wooed many Roosevelt Democrats, the staunchly anti-communist Reagan is seen as having played a large part in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hide Caption 39 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) was a former CIA director and served two terms as vice president under Ronald Reagan. His approval rating at home soared after he led an international coalition to oust Iraq from Kuwait, and communism in Eastern Europe fell on his watch.

But he lost his bid for re-election amid a sluggish economy and after reneging on a promise not to raise taxes. Hide Caption 40 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States Bill Clinton (1993-2001) ran on the slogan, "It's the economy, stupid." Plagued by various scandals -- including accusations of sexual impropriety -- he was the second president to be impeached. He was acquitted in 1999. Hide Caption 41 of 43 Photos: Presidents of the United States George W. Bush (2001-2009) is the son of former President George H.W. Bush. His presidency was largely defined by his response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2003, he ordered the invasion of Iraq on suspicion that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Hide Caption

Question: In 1841 who was the first US Vice President to take office as President after his predecessor died in office?
Answer: JOHN TYLER